I try not to post personal things on this site, but this time I couldn't resist. Come January, my wife and I will be expecting our first child. We are having a girl. And we are going to name her Leia. That's right, you read that right. Say what you will, start your nerd jokes now, but it is quite a nice name regardless of the obvious reference. And no, I'm not going to start calling her "my princess" or "Princess Leia"; the last thing I want for her is to get a princess complex, cause you know how fun THOSE kinds of girls are. And yes, my wife has agreed to it. And no, if it we were having a boy we would NOT have named him Luke or Han although Han does sound Asian...

In all seriousness, I can't tell you how excited and nervous I am at the reality of it all. This is going to be quite a ride.

I had meant to post this awhile ago, but real life got the better of me trying to get as much home remodeling done as possible before she comes. That is also the reason for my on-again/off-again hiatus from the site. I don't know what else to say much more than that.

I am going to be converting my personal site http://www.acekim.com/ from a facepalm ascii art repository to a personal blog site in the next few days, so if you feel like reading up on my trials and tribulations of fatherhood as well as the other geeky things I'm into, bookmark it now.

My wife wouldn't even consider Leia when our daughter was born, so you're one on up me that way. Congrats on the baby, it will change your life. Just buy her lots and lots of Lego, my daughter is only 3, and already addicted.

There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who can understand binary, and those that can't."None of you understand. I'm not locked up in here with you, you are locked up in here with me!" - Rorshach, Watchmen.

Congratulations, being a father will the best experience in your life. Let me give you a couple of tips.

Odds are you'll be in the delivery room, if you're not to squeamish, watch the birth. It will be the most disgusting and beautiful (at the same time) thing you'll ever see. Don't video tape the birth, this memory will be burned into your brain for the rest of your life. Don't share it with others, keep it something special for yourself. Usually your wife doesn't want to relive on film either. Also, your friends don't want to watch a video. It's tough to look at someone in the eyes after you've seen their "stuff" on film.

My wife is a petite little thing, and even has a hard time opening the lid of a jar when I've already started it for her. When she was squeezing a person out of her body she had the grip of death on my hand. Don't say something like, "Can you give her a stick to bite down on?" You will get a few insults thrown your way. Don't take it personal. Other than that, you are going to feel like the most useless person in the room. There is nothing you can do to take the pain of your wife giving birth away. Just go with the flow and do everything the nurses tell you.

Then there is the change in the space-time continuum that occurs after you kid is born. Time just speeds up. Babies are kind of boring to start off with. As they learn and get older, suddenly in the blink of an eye, their going to school. For what ever reason it is, time speeds up tremendously when you have kids. So far, my experience is it, it stays that way permenantly.

Leia is a really pretty name in my opinion. So no jokes from me on this one. If anything, I'm jealous. My wife wouldn't consider it at all.

Oh, and you're having a daughter? Be prepared to be wrapped around that little finger until the day you die.

<O> <O>"Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room." -Winston Churchill

I understand it's not for everyone. I didn't think I could either, but in the long run I couldn't help myself. You never know until your standing there holding her leg. Hope you have the stomache to cut the cord. The scissors tend to crunch through that intead of really cutting it. That and watching the birth of my first child were reward enough for being there (well, having my daughter too). I'm just glad I don't ever have to birth. Just being there for wife is a big step and a huge asset to her.

When my son was born, I even watched the C-section. Again, I couldn't help myself.

<O> <O>"Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room." -Winston Churchill